Carlos the Jackal DVD

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Arthouse favorite Olivier Assayas followed up his critical darling SUMMER HOURS (2008) with this wildly different chronicle - a biopic of the ultra-leftwing, Venezuelan terrorist-cum-mercenary Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, popularly known as 'Carlos the Jackal'.

As co-written by Assayas and scenarist Dan Franck, the account spans the years 1973-1994 - or the period that witnessed Sanchez at his most violent and relentless. Narrative touchstones include the 1974 bomb attack at the Publicis Drugstore on Paris's Left Bank and the 1975 abduction of 11 OPEC officials from Vienna, as well as a torrent of assassinations that Carlos and his cronies planned but didn't carry out.

As produced by Daniel Lecomte, this telling of Sanchez's life stars Edgar Ramirez as the terrorist, as well as Alexander Scheer, Aljoscha Stadelmann and Julia Hummer; it was predominantly shot in Germany, France and Lebanon.